Local jiu-jitsu fighter cleans up at recent tournaments
Hannah Griffith trains at QuanWessels in Sunninghill and hopes to excel in the sport.
Hannah Griffith recently won the South African inaugural jiu-jitsu featherweight fight.
She is one of a number of athletes from Quan Wessels Martial Arts in Sunninghill creating a name for themselves in the sport.
Griffith (20) won the featherweight title at the Submission Kings and Queens competition. She also won gold in the ladies’ pro absolute division in the ADCC Cabo Tormentosa tournament in Cape Town.
The martial artist looks back on how she got into the sport. “Jiu-jitsu is something my dad loves and I started around the age of five. I then changed to homeschooling in Grade 1 and it became part of my daily routine for exercise and self-defence,” she said.
Aside from being a participant, she also helps run Cornerstone Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with her father and brother.
The Krugersdorp resident felt honoured to be part of the Submission Kings and Queens tournament. “Submission Kings is an organisation that has been contributing to the growth of jiujitsu athletes by staging amazing events and giving us a local platform from which to launch ourselves to the next level,” she said.
There’s a number of organisations and federations that aid in the growth of jiu-jitsu in South Africa, such as the various ADCC and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) events.
Griffith said she has hopes to expand her jiu-jitsu career. “I want to try and build a name for myself in both the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation as well as ADCC in No Gi grappling. “In doing that, I hope to encourage other women to dream big and to know they are capable of anything they put their minds to. “Learning self-defence should be an important part of every woman’s journey.”
Griffith will soon be heading to America where she hopes to take part in smaller competitions. All this is in preparation for the ADCC trials in Poland later this year and early next year.
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